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ENB:04:55 [Next] . [Previous] . [Contents]

LEGITIMIZATION OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:

Another critical gain is the acceptance by many governments of the importance of the participatory approach in the development of national action programmes and, indeed, the recognition that this element is a pre-condition to successful results. Many African countries have come to accept that their national and regional action programmes will not meet with real success unless affected local populations are involved in the design, development and implementation of these programmes. Twenty years ago, few countries would have even considered the usefulness, yet alone the political importance and good sense, of NGO involvement. Now there is an awareness that donors may very well steer money away from those programmes planned in capital cities. This awareness may well lead to an attitudinal shift regarding the need to plan action programmes in a fundamentally different way, with the full involvement of NGOs and affected communities as an absolute prerequisite to the true achievement of sustainable development.